Chief Warrant Officer 1 Gerald Allen Key II and his father Chief Warrant Officer 5 Gerald Allen Key have laid claim to being the most junior and most senior members of the Georgia Army National Guard’s Warrant Officer Corps.

"Although I’m not the senior warrant officer by date of rank, the position makes me the senior warrant in the state," Chief Warrant Officer 5 Key said. "It’s rather unique, I believe, that my son and I share the same name and he is the newest member and lowest rank of the Warrant Officer Corps while I represent the highest rank that can be obtained within the Corps."

The younger Key received his new rank during a late January graduation ceremony of the Warrant Officer Candidate School at Fort Rucker, Ala. He remains at Rucker to attend helicopter flight training until December. When he graduates Key will be the Georgia Guard’s newest UH-60 Black Hawk pilot. Key’s unit, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation, is stationed at Marietta’s Dobbins Reserve Air Base. It was recently mobilized for service in the Middle East.

Before joining the Guard in July 20003 with the rank of sergeant and as a flight operations NCO, the younger Key spent four years in USMC as infantryman.

"I decided I wanted to see what it’s like flying helicopters instead of jumping or rappelling out of them," he said in a recent telephone interview. "As former Marine rifleman I have every respect for the soldier on the ground, but flying is something I have always wanted to do.

"Being a member of the Georgia Army National Guard," he said, "provided me that opportunity." Three month later the younger Key was accepted into the Army Guard’s Warrant Officer program.

"I am very proud of him," the older Key said of his son. "He is the only one of my children to join the military. "When he decided to leave the Corps, I was glad to see him join the Guard.’

Still, the father said, his son’s service as a Marine was time well spent. Although, the younger Key was raised in a disciplined environment, his father said he strongly believe the Corps built on discipline and ethics his family had already instilled in him.

As the senior member of the Warrant Officer Corps, the older Key, been with the Guard for 32 years. And as the most senior warrant he is the command chief warrant officer serving on Brig. Gen. Nesbitt’s staff at Headquarters STARC. His job, the older Key said, is to advise General Nesbitt on issues pertaining to warrant officers.

"There hasn’t been a day during my career that I haven’t loved being in this uniform and serving my state and country," Key said. "Working with General Nesbitt and others on his staff has been rewarding."